Airline `Black Boxes` Flown To India

LONDON — Two flight data recorders from the Air-India jumbo jet that crashed off the Irish coast were flown Friday to Bombay amid criticism by some experts that India was not equipped to analyze them.

The cockpit voice and flight data recorders -- the ``black boxes`` -- were plucked from under 6,700 feet of water in the Atlantic Ocean, about 110 miles southwest of Ireland where the Boeing 747 jetliner crashed June 23. All 329 people aboard were killed.

The recorders were recovered by remote-controlled submarine Wednesday and Thursday and taken by boat to Cork, Ireland, sealed in metal containers and flown to London and placed aboard an Air-India flight for Bombay.

The recorders will be studied by investigators to determine why the jet vanished from radar screens and plummeted 31,000 feet into the ocean. There has been speculation the crash was caused by a terrorist bomb.

Indian investigators maintain an explosion is the most likely explanation, but experts from Canada, where the flight originated, contend there is no evidence of a bomb or bomb damage to support that theory. The plane was destined for New Delhi and Bombay.

The ``black boxes`` -- actually painted orange for visibility -- were sent to India despite criticism from some experts that India was not equipped to analyze them.

Britain`s two major television networks reported that several major international airlines, anxious to learn the cause of the crash, were opposed to sending the recorders to India.

The Times of London newspaper said ``aviation safety experts in London, the United States and Canada were surprised by the move and said they doubted that India had adequate facilities to provide the best possible analysis of the information the recorders could contain.``

Indian investigators declined comment on the criticism. India has insisted it has adequate facilities to analyze the data.